The high packaging densities of present day printed circuit boards, such as those used in electronic data processors, has resulted in difficulties in testing board assemblies. One method of testing involves the soldering of the ends of individual leads to the respective locations to be examined. That is, one end of the test lead may be connected to a circuit board pad--the other end to the test/diagnostic equipment. Such an operation requires the services of a highly skilled technician who must not only make the electrical connections, but must be readily available during testing. Moreover, since the test lead is often of considerable length, the danger exists that it may be accidentally pulled, thereby damaging the circuit board pad. Since such boards are very expensive to fabricate, such a possibility must be eliminated.
Another commonly used method of testing is to employ a typical hand-held probe of the type furnished with oscilloscopes. In this case, the test technician must use extreme care to avoid short circuiting the adjacent, closely-spaced test locations. Also, if a large number of locations must be probed, the task becomes arduous because the technician must physically retain the probe at each location for a period of time. If the probe is of the clip type and the location may be accessed by clipping the probe thereto, the same difficulty as noted hereinbefore with respect to board damage may be encountered.
What is required is an easy to use, accurate probe which may be locked in position after deployment and which eliminates the possibility of damage to the printed circuit board. The present invention fills such a need.